"Huh?"
Finally, Ai broke her silence.
"Her secret? You mean"
"Rei Ao!"
"Senpai!"
Two voices spoke up, two figures stepping into view. They were Eriri and Iroha Isshiki, both walking their way. Ai Hayasaka stopped herself from responding to Rei Ao and fell silent.
Eriri ran over first and clung to his arm in an affectionate manner.
"?"
Iroha Isshiki halted, startled by the scene.
"Senpai Who is she?"
"She's Eriri, my girlfriend. And this here is Ai Hayasaka, myfriend."
""
Girlfriend?!
Iroha's eye twitched. Another girlfriendlike Yukino and the others. Today's attempt to "woo senpai" hadn't even started, and she was already served a plateful of dog food.
Eriri sized up Iroha for a moment before exclaiming:
"So you're Iroha Isshiki."
"Eh? H-how do you know my name?"
Iroha blurted out, suspecting Rei Ao might have mentioned her.
"Well"
Eriri realized Iroha wasn't in the chat group, so she improvised:
"I've, uh, seen you around, but you've never met me. Let's just leave it at that."
She changed the subject:
"Hey, Rei Ao, come over to my place after school. My mom asked me to invite you."
"Sure, I was planning on visiting Aunt Sayuri anyway."
Feeling she couldn't get a word in, Ai Hayasaka took the chance to bow slightly:
"Class is about to start. I should be going."
"Alright."
Rei Ao gave a brief nod, making no further mention of "Kaguya's secret." He trusted Ai would seek him out later if needed.
"By the way, Iroha, did you need something from me?"
He turned to Isshiki.
"Uh"
She hesitated. She'd been hoping to invite him somewhere, step-by-step carrying out her plan to charm him. But Eriri beat her to itthe girlfriend. So she got cold feet. She couldn't exactly poach him right in front of his official girlfriendthat would be too shameless. Even she feared the consequences.
Awkwardly, Iroha forced a smile:
"N-nothing. I was just passing by, haha"
Then she turned and ran off.
"Rei Ao, did I mess anything up? She was obviously trying to cozy up to you, right?"
Eriri teased, staring at Iroha's retreating figure.
"Stop it," he said, giving her a little knock on the head.
"Ow!"
Eriri yelped, rubbing the spot.
"Go on, get to class. I'll come find you after school."
"Hmph, fine. But quit hitting me on the head!"
She pouted in mock displeasure.
The Student Council
During the mid-day break, as Student Council President Kaguya Shinomiya, she should have been tackling some paperworklike approving club budgetsbut she was incredibly distracted. She'd scribble a bit, then stop and zone out again.
Her mind was filled with what Ai had explained: the things couples do, how babies are made, all those sorts of images.
"So that's how you have a baby?" she mumbled absentmindedly. She didn't notice Chika Fujiwara entering the room, who picked up on her muttering.
"Heeeh? A baby, who?"
Chika sidled closer with shining eyes.
"Ah?!"
Kaguya nearly jumped out of her chair. She waved her hands frantically:
"N-no, it's not me!"
Pfft!
Chika couldn't help but laugh.
"Kaguya-chan, I know it's obviously not you who's having a baby. But you did say 'baby' just now."
""
Kaguya realized her outburst was a mistake. Trying to act calm, she said:
"I was just talking to myself. Don't mind it."
"How could I not care?! You got me all excitedthought someone you knew was pregnant."
Chika puffed out her cheeks in a playful sulk.
""
After a few beats of silence, Kaguya found herself blurting:
"Chikayou know about, uh, how babies are made, right?"
"Of course I do, how could I not?"
"Butdid you know thatjust k-kissing doesn't, ummake a baby?"
Kaguya tried to confirm, hoping Chika would side with her. Ai's explanation had, after all, shattered some illusions she'd had.
""
Chika froze for a moment. Then, she suddenly burst out laughingclutching her stomach in absolute mirth.
"Hahahahaha!!!"
"???"
Kaguya stared in confusion. Why is she laughing so hard?!
~~~
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Chapter 606: Hiiragi Shinoa's Trouble...
"Hahahaha!!!"
Chika Fujiwara burst into peals of laughter, leaving Kaguya Shinomiya momentarily stunned. It took a while for Chika's laughter to subside. Wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, she said:
"Kaguya-chan, what a ridiculous joke! That was hilarious."
"What's so funny?"
Kaguya asked, expressionless.
"How could just kissing ever get you pregnant? Even middle schoolers know that. I can't imagine who'd say something so silly~"
Chika's unintentional remark struck Kaguya's heart like a sharp bladeafter all, until quite recently, she had believed that very thing.
"Kaguya-chan, who exactly told you that? Is that person a friend of yours? You've gotta introduce them to me!"
Chika lit up, excited by the idea of meeting someone so nave. She was ready to play the role of a "big teacher" and enlighten them.
"Hehhehe"
Kaguya's lips twitched in an icy smile.
"K-Kaguya-chan, what's wrong? You'rescary"
Sensing something amiss, Chika got a bad feeling.
"Wait Don't tell me it's you, Kaguya-chan?"
She had guessed the truth. Of course, Kaguya wouldn't admit that. Maintaining a frosty demeanor, she said:
"Chika, let's have a quick word about cutting the table game club's budget."
"Eeeh?!!!"
As the Table Game Club's president, Chika Fujiwara let out a wail of despair.
Imperial Demon Army
Returning to the Imperial Demon Army's base, Shinoa Hiiragi had finally been released from interrogation. They found no evidence that she was linked to Yuuichiro Hyakuya's death. As it stood, the boy was killed in an unexpected vampire attack, and Shinoamerely assigned to watch himhadn't actually neglected her duty.
Still, something about the incident seemed off: Two of the vampire progenitors had died in bizarre ways, and a whole area had been frozen and petrified with salt. Yet the Army's investigation turned up nothing concrete.
No longer under suspicion, Shinoa left the facilityonly to be confronted by a tall, dark-haired man with cold eyes. He stood before her, glaring intently.
Shinoa glowered right back, refusing to yield.
She recognized himGuren Ichinose, heir to the Ichinose family and next-in-line for "Moon Demon Company."
Reportedly, Guren was a once-in-a-millennium talent even within Moon Demon.
Currently, he was a Lieutenant Colonel of the Imperial Demon Army and captain of the Moon Demon Company's Guren Squad.
"Was Yuu's death your doing?"
His gaze was icy, voice frigid. For all his carefree airs, Guren was fiercely loyal to those he cared about. He'd essentially raised Yuuichiro Hyakuya and wanted the truth. He was sure the circumstances of Yuu's death weren't so simpleafter all, Guren knew exactly how special Yuu was.
A subject of the Seraph of the End experiments, Yuu had hidden, extraordinary powers, so it made no sense for him to die so easily to mere vampires.
"Ah, you think I killed him?"
Shinoa scoffed.
"Could it not have been you?"
He didn't know for certain, but he intended to find outstaring into Shinoa's eyes as if he could detect any lie.
"Has nothing to do with me. I was only tasked with monitoring him and had no reason to kill him."
She was telling the truth: Yuu had transformed due to the vampire progenitors, and both Yuu and the vampires were killed by Esdeath. Shinoa had just been a bystander the whole time, so she wasn't lying at all.
""
After a long stare, Guren saw no abnormality in Shinoa's expression. He said nothing more, giving her one last look before turning and leaving.
"Ugh, it never ends,"
Shinoa muttered, exasperated. Yuu's death was causing her headaches.
She opened the chat group:
Shinoa Hiiragi: "Sigh I'm so tired."
Kasuga Hijiri: "What's wrong?"
Shinoa Hiiragi: "Ugh, between failing my mission and the target I was watching dying, the Army's been interrogating me nonstopplus I just got questioned by someone else. I'm exhausted. I want to see the world burn."
Akame: "It's that weird bug-transformation guy Esdeath killed, right?"
Shinoa Hiiragi: "Yeah, him. And apparently someone who knows him personally came asking if I'd killed him. Tch."
Rei Ao: "Guren?"
Shinoa Hiiragi: "Huh? How do you know him?"
Frieren: "Shinoa, have you forgotten what Rei Ao can do?"
Stella: "Indeed. Nothing he knows would surprise me anymore.*
Izawa Shizue: "Same here."
Miyuki Shiba: "So who is this Guren, that even Rei Ao's paying attention to him?"
Rei Ao: "@Shinoa Hiiragi, isn't he acquainted with your older sister?"
Shinoa Hiiragi: "You even know that? Well, yeah, they were classmates, though they weren't that close. Plus, my sister's dead."
Rei Ao: "Hm? They "weren't close?" Didn't your sister and Guren date or something?"
Shinoa Hiiragi: "Uh not that I know of Why would you think that?"
Rei Ao: "Never mind, guess my info was off."
Is Guren planning to do anything to you?
Shinoa Hiiragi: "What's this, concern from you?"
Rei Ao: "Shouldn't I care for my own woman?"
Shinoa Hiiragi: "Heh heh, just because you had your fun with me in exchange for that "trade," you think you own me now? Possessive, aren't we?"
Mikoto Misaka: "That's too much!*
Shinoa Hiiragi: "Exactlywhere's the romance? Where's the confession? Hmph."
Misaka Mikoto: "???"
Erica: "My back hurts from all this sugary talk"
Shinoa Hiiragi: "Haha, anyway, Guren isn't doing anything. Between my "Rei Ao's Blessing" and my Shikama Dji, I doubt he could beat me anyway."
~~~
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Chapter 607: Plans with Eriri and Sayuri (Bonus Chapter)
Everyone understood from Shinoa Hiiragi's explanation that she hadn't actually encountered any danger or threatshe was just venting a little in the chat group.
However, afterward, Rei Ao posed a question that the other members found rather odd:
Rei Ao: "@Shinoa Hiiragi, about your sister Is she still alive?"
Sui: "Eh? Why ask that out of the blue?"
Yukinoshita Yukino: "He must have some motive."
Yotsuya Miko: "Could it be that Shinoa's sister is really pretty?"
Shinoa Hiiragi: "All I can say is that she looked a lot like me."
Stella: "Then she must be gorgeous, since Rei Ao is so fond of you."
Bibi Dong: "If Rei Ao's interested, there's obviously no issue."
Shinoa Hiiragi: "But here's the thing, Rei Ao-kun: my sister is already deceased, from an accident."
Shinoa Hiiragi: "Why are you asking? Do you want to say something?"
Rei Ao: "Not really. I'm just curious."
He was intrigued by the fate of Shinoa's sister, Mahiru Hiiragi, whose destiny he didn't recall. For instance, how did she die? And why didn't she become a demon? If he didn't already have plans to visit Eriri's place, he'd have gone to see Shinoa in person.
"Oh well, I'll check it out some other time,"
Rei Ao said to himself, shelving that thought for now as he waited for classes to end.
After Classes
Whether it was Megumi Kato or Yui, several girls wanted to walk home with Rei Aobut he turned them all down.
"Rei Ao-kun, do you have something going on?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka looked puzzled as her boyfriend refused her.
"I'm sorry, I already have plans."
Rei Ao glanced at his watch. It had been twenty minutes since the final bell rang; only a few students on cleaning duty remained in the classroom.
"Plans? With who?"
Utaha asked just as
"Rei Ao-kun, I'm here!"
A familiar voice echoed down the hallway. Eriri dashed over, pigtails bouncing merrily.
"Oh, she's arrived."
"So it's her"
Seeing the excited Eriri, Utaha's face darkened. My boyfriend is being stolen away by this blonde pigtailed girl.
"???"
Eriri felt something amiss.
"What's wrong? And why is she here?"
She hugged Rei Ao's arm protectively, wary of Utaha. Afraid he'd be taken.
"Heh."
Utaha responded with a cynical laugh.
"What am I doing here? I wanted to walk home with my boyfriend, but apparently he turned me down for someone elsedo you know how annoying that feels?"
"!"
Eriri wasn't clueless; she got the situation immediately.
"He's your boyfriend?"
She looked at Rei Ao as if to confirm. He didn't hide it:
"Utaha is indeed my girlfriend right now. I just didn't have time to tell you all."
Hearing that, Utahawho had been sulkingfelt unexpectedly touched. It meant her relationship with Rei Ao wasn't hidden at all.
""
Because the people in the chat group had witnessed so much already, Eriri didn't overreact. She only pursed her lips in a little pout.
"Hmph, I don't care if she's your girlfriendI'm also your girlfriend, and I asked you to come to my place first. So you will come home with me!
If you don't agree, II'll bite you!"
She flashed her tiny canine teethher signature cutesy threat. Unfortunately, it lacked any real intimidation, only making her look adorably bully-able.
Rei Ao pinched her nose:
"I gave you my word, so I obviously won't break it. That's why I turned Utaha down."
Seeing the tension, Utaha decided not to force him. She sighed:
"Alright, alright. I've been rejected, so I won't insist. I'll let you have him this time."
"But next time, Rei Ao, you have to consider me first. I'm scheduling you in advance."
With that, she stepped closer in her black stockings, a gentle fragrance wafting by.
Standing on tiptoes, Utaha leaned in and planted a quick kiss on Rei Ao's lips. It lasted just a moment, then she licked her lips and said, "That's my deposit~" before leaving.
"Eh???"
Eriri, still clinging to Rei Ao's arm, froze up. Did she just get "NTR'd" right in front of her eyes?!
"Ugh, that cowKasu 'big boobs' creep!!!"
Eriri, who often drew NTR scenes in her doujin work, was tasting that humiliation in real life for the first time. Her entire face went beet red
"Ehhh"
Rei Ao gave a helpless sigh, then moved to soothe the small, jealous creature beside him. His method was simple:
1. Tilt her chin up.
2. Lean in slowly for a kiss.
3. Tame Eriri, the little "jealous ball."
That's all. Eriri settled down in no time.
Once her jealousy evaporated, she interlocked fingers with Rei Ao, quietly waiting at the train station together. Although Rei Ao could have teleported them straight home or called a cab, Eriri insisted on riding the train for the experience. He happily obliged her.
